Pop-Up Poetry set to rise downtown

Poetry used to permeate everyday life, but over the last century or so it has faded from the forefront.

Or has it?

Mount Royal University is celebrating the written word and Calgary’s remarkable arsenal of noteworthy writers with a unique opportunity for people to meet and connect with local poets and watch the creative process in action.

Our line-up of poets is set to prove that poetry lives on and remains as integral a part of society as it ever has been. Join MRU’ s Micheline Maylor, Calgary’s 2016-2018 Poet Laureate, Richard Harrison, winner of the City of Calgary Book Prize, the 2014-2016 Calgary Poet Laureate derek beaulieu(of both ACAD and MRU), and Cassy Welburn, Calgary storyteller and writer as they spread the word – both literally and figuratively – downtown on Tuesday, Aug. 9.

What happens?

derek beaulieu

Members of the public will provide the Pop-Up writers with a one-word topic, and over a short time frame get to observe a personalized poem taking shape from the keys of an old-fashioned typewriter. A visual and fascinating process takes place as the work develops, and at the end of it all, the originator of the idea gets to take the poem home with them.

Maylor says there is a lot of mentorship and awareness-building involved in her role at Calgary Poet Laureate, and that part of her job it to bring poetry to the public.

“Poetry is something that’s really ubiquitous," she said.

"It’s been around for a really long time and it’s in every culture and language that exists because it meets a basic human need.

“What it is, is the need to express our deepest emotions through language. Sometimes our emotions can be very imagistic, and there’s an aesthetic beauty that exists in the image, but there’s also that longing, or grief, or love, or lust, even gratitude or thanks, that can come out of poetry.”

As champion of the Calgary Poet Laureate program, Mayor Naheed Nenshi said, “Poetry plays an important role in our society by revealing to us our community humanity.

"Micheline Maylor is an exceptional poet and educator in Calgary, and I am thrilled that she is our Poet Laureate,”

Poet bios

Richard Harrison

Micheline Maylor

Micheline Maylor specializes in creative writing, poetry, fiction, non-fiction and composition at the Faculty of Arts, Mount Royal University. Her publications include Full Depth, Whirr and Click and Little Wildheart (available in 2017). On April 25, 2016, Micheline was named the 2016–2018 Calgary Poet Laureate. She is also the Calgary Public Library’s 2016 Author in Residence and won a 2015 Teaching Excellence Award from MRU.

derek beaulieu

derek beaulieu is an internationally recognized text artist, conceptual writer and literary critic. Author of eight books of poetry (including a volume of his selected poetry entitled Please, No More Poetry), four volumes of conceptual fiction (most recently the short fiction collection LOCAL COLOUR: Ghosts, variations), two collections of critical writing and over 175 chapbooks, derek beaulieu’s work is consistently praised as some of the most radical and challenging in contemporary Canadian writing.

derek beaulieu was the 2014–2016 Calgary Poet Laureate.

Richard Harrison

Richard Harrison teaches composition, creative writing (poetry), and the study of comics and graphic novels. His is an award-winning poet, essayist and editor. His books of poetry include Big Breadth of a Wish, Hero of the Play

Cassy Welburn

and On Not Losing My Father’s Ashes in the Flood. Richard’s topics range from philosophy to prayer, literary criticism to mathematics, and verse to hockey.

Cassy Welburn

Cassy Welburn is a Calgary storyteller and writer with a theatre background with over thirty years of experience sharing stories with people of all ages. She specializes in folktale and literary classics, blending poetry and music with storytelling. She was Storyteller on Tour for the 2013 Canadian Children's Book Centre Tour, and her tales are recorded on TALES on the Wind, Call Your Neighbours In, as well as her own CD, Cassiopeia: Stories From the Night Tree. Her book of poetry and story, Changelings is available from Frontenac House.

Contact Us

Mount Royal University is located in the traditional territories of the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) and the people of the Treaty 7 region in Southern Alberta, which includes the Siksika, the Piikani, the Kainai, the Tsuut’ina, and the Iyarhe Nakoda. The City of Calgary is also home to the Métis Nation.